Tanzania Conservation Action Plan

Threats to chimpanzees in Tanzania include unsustainable agriculture, fuel wood extraction, logging, expansion of human settlements, disease and a growing problem of hunting for bushmeat and witchcraft.

Key Activities:

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Great Ape Conservation Fund will help JGI and partners develop strategies designed to abate the most critical threats to chimpanzees and their habitats. These will include strategies to:

The goal is for the Tanzanian government to adopt the Chimpanzee Conservation Action Plan as a conservation blueprint. The plan also will serve as a guide for other organizations and NGOs interested in chimpanzee welfare.

The IUCN Conservation Breeding Specialist Group’s Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) process will be used to bring together primatologists, population biologists, wildlife and land managers, legal experts and others. They will use simulation models of wildlife population dynamics to understand threats and develop creative and inclusive solutions. For example, simulation models will predict infectious disease threats – one of the most significant dangers for chimpanzees as human populations increasingly overlap with chimpanzee ranges. Partners also will analyze laws related to chimpanzee protection and make recommendations for improvements.

JGI’s partners include the Wildlife Division of Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, the Conservation Breeding Special Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society and Frankfurt Zoological Society.